A dangerous deal
by AriadneW
Summary: This is a love/adventure story. Better summary in prologue.
1. Prologue

She burst out laughing kindly and grabbed an apple from a basket of flowers.

'You might be wise, cousin, but you're completely lost in life,' Aphrodite smiled, taking a bite from the fruit, 'Trust me, I'm never mistaken in this stuff.'

'Yes right, Miss Goddess-of-all-blondes,' snapped Athena, 'I suggest you don't get in trouble with _me_.'

'That wasen't funny,' the Goddess of Love replied crossly, 'Mortals value heart more than brains nowadays, you know?'

'Well, is doesn't mean that _all_ mortals can love,' Athena took off her helmet and looked into it, 'Not even all _gods_ love.'

'They do,' her friend reassured her.

'No,' Athena shook her head, 'People are never the same, which means not all of them are able to love.'

'Come on, my dear Athena, you're only a Goddess of wisdom, use your mind and understand that I _see_ these things! I have seen every single mortal love!'

'My mind tells me that there is always something special in a stock of nonentity.' snapped the Goddess, 'Surely Aphrodite, you know you'll never be right when you argue with me.'

'Want to bet?' asked Aphrodite, her eyes glowing with excitement, 'Let's have a deal.'

Athena eyed her quietly.

'If you won't cheat, like always,' she said coolly.

'Cheating is last century,' the Goddess of Love swung her hand a bit, 'I'll be truthful, I promise.'

'Okay, then, what's the deal?'

'Well,' smiled her cousin mysteriously, 'I will try to prove you that even you can love.'

Athena laughed.

'One thing then!' her eyes twinkled, 'No magic arrows.'

'Sure,' shrugged Aphrodite, taking another apple, 'You'll see that love can hurt too.'

'Can hurt men,' replied Athena, being quite a woman – hater.

'And women…' nodded her cousin, 'and so, if I win…?'

'What will you do?' chuckled Athena with notes of sarcasm in her voice.

'Hmm…' the Goddess thought for a moment, screwing her brain, 'I'll… I'll… Make you have… a child.'

'Don't be ridiculous!' Athena laughed nervously.

'Scared..?' sneered the goddess.

'No!' the woman replied icily, 'And then if I win, you live with Hephaestus for the next 50 years.'

The Goddess of love bit her lip.

'Terrified…?' chuckled her cousin.

'No, not at all,' Aphrodite shook her head lightly, 'so, deal?'

She held out a head confidently. Athena shook it.

'And so it is.' she smiled coldly, 'We just had a deal.'

* * *

We'll ignore the small annoying fact that all gods are related. :)


	2. Chapter 1

Athena dug her fingers into her bushy hair and stared at the picture she was drawing, and, obviously failing at it. For some reason Zeus had a strange idea to get a map of some lands, in careful, unique frames, so he could put them in his temple. This was Athena's duty for some reason.

Okay, the map she could do easily. She was neat enough to draw lakes, rivers, mountains, cities, but frames… no, design was surely not her thing. For the last half an hour she had been drawing a rose in the upper left corner and cursing everything on Olympus because of it. At first it was fine, but then…

A couple of weeks passed after Athena's 'deal' with Aphrodite and the Goddess of Wisdom even thought that she won, but something stopped her from bursting into Aphrodite's home and claiming that she won…

Athena looked down at her frame and felt womanly irritation raise in her.

Someone knocked on the door.

'Who's there?' she yelled, gathering her work into a small pile, 'I'm in the office…'

'Hey, Athena?' Apollo's voice sounded from the living room, 'You know, I was passing by and found this…You know, Demeter will bury you for wasting paper…'

The god of arts passed the Goddess a crumpled piece of paper, which the goddess had thrown out a couple of minutes ago.

'Oh… that…' Athena blushed, stood up and grabbed the piece of paper, 'ignore that, it's nothing...'

'It was pretty nice,' Apollo pointed out peeking at the new sketch of the rose, 'If you want, I can help you.'

'No, I don't need help,' snapped Athena, biting her lip, 'I can deal with it. Men don't help me.'

'Okay then,' shrugged the God of Arts, 'I was on my way to Ares anyway.'

Athena gave him a curt nod and turned back to her work.

Apollo stood for a minute and watched her.

'Well,' he nodded calmly, 'If you don't need anything, I better leave you alone, before you crack my head into halves with your sword.'

The Goddess smiled to herself. Her friend winked and turned to the exit, when something hit her.

'Wait, wait, wait!' she gasped, jumping up, 'Father will smash _my head_ against the wall if I don't get his frames ready by Monday.'

'You have two days left,' Apollo noticed politely, 'And…?'

The immortal woman glared at him playfully.

'Help me,' she ordered, 'Please…'

'Well, maybe…' teased Apollo walking around proudly, 'if I'm in the mood of helping…'

'It will take me the maximum of a minute to grab my sword…' the goddess smiled arrogantly

'Okay, okay,' chuckled the man, walking closer, 'No need to be so bigheaded.'

'I am not bigheaded,' snapped Athena, 'and by the way, I though you were the god of music and…'

'My dear, Athena,' grinned the god, taking a pencil out, 'I unlike many, found it useful to learn some other things, besides the talents I got from birth.'

He took a chair and sat down. Athena landed next to him proudly.

'I won't critique,' he warned, 'Even though I can't die, being hit with a sword would certainly hurt.'

The goddess held back a giggle.

'Okay…' began Apollo, 'take the pencil.'

Athena gritted her teeth, but nodded and grabbed the drawing instrument.

'Do you mind?' asked Apollo softly, putting his hand on hers to help her make a sketch.

The goddess shook her head partly because she didn't mind and partly because she wanted her bushy hair to cover her blushing face.

'The petals should be bigger,' he continued calmly and moved her hand around, drawing big circles around the middle, 'shading is also important, it shows the angle of the picture.'

Athena concentrated on his words, feeling his warm palm on her hand.

'Why _were_ you going to Ares?' she asked quietly, coloring the stem.

'I don't know what he wanted,' shrugged Apollo, 'I've never seen him to be keen to have relationships with anyone, probably only Aphrodite.'

Athena dropped her pencil.

'Are you okay?' the god asked, watching her worriedly. She shut her eyes and focused her mind.

**Apollo ****= Ares = Aphrodite = deal. **

'I'm fine,' she shook her head, still not understanding what she had made up, 'I was just thinking of how to shade the centre.'

Apollo didn't seem to believe her.

Thank you everyone, for the comments.


	3. Chapter 2

Athena walked down an alley thoughtfully. She just gave her frames in. Her father was quite amused of that, saying: 'I've always been a failure in drawing, never thought you could sketch so nicely.'

After that the goddess decided to take a walk in one of the Olympus' gardens, to clear her mind a bit. Peace and quiet. Peace and quiet.

The immortal woman strolled between some big apple trees that were blooming with big, light pink flowers. The sun was up, shining brightly, making the plants whine with heat. Some other gods were picnicking outside, some alone, some in groups.

Ares was there too, staring at Athena strangely, yet calmly and coldly. She gazed at him for a moment and looked away. If he was Aphrodite's old lover, that must mean that she can manipulate him easily, making him do whatever she wanted. Athena stomped her foot. So there was something in love.

Okay then, but what in the world did Ares need from Apollo. As far as she knew, they had never been friends, or even comrades.

Apollo was full with himself, sarcasm and love for smart women.

Ares had no sense of humor, brain and logic thinking.

Athena peeked at him again. The god of war, and technically her brother, seemed to be spying on her.

The goddess tensed, but even though she was immortal, she was still a woman and the healthy feminine curiosity was eating her up. She sighed and jumped over a small root lightly, making her way to the god.

'Hello,' Athena greeted Ares playfully, 'The day's hot today isn't it.'

The god greeted her with an indulgent smile.

'Well, hello, Athena,' he nodded beginning to walk, 'It sadly, is.'

His sister walked next to him.

'Why sadly?' she asked quietly, trying to lure him into a trap, her trap.

Ares wasen't as stupid as she had thought at first.

'Because, Athena,' he replied irritably, 'don't try to look stupid. You're not Aphrodite; you'll never get it perfect.'

Athena looked away.

'I'm sorry,' he sighed finally, taking her hand, 'I'm just feeling…'

'… hyper?' snapped Athena coldly, pulling her hand away, 'what did you want with Apollo?'

'It's none of you business, you know,' he told her coolly, as though he knew, something she didn't.

The goddess snorted irritably and looked around. They walked into the deepest part of the forest, chatting. Something strange twinkled in Ares' eyes.

'We should go back,' Athena was about to turn around, not liking the idea of staying alone with him.

'Really?' Ares smiled arrogantly, grabbing her wrist, 'I don't think so.'

The goddess of wisdom glared at him.

'Let. Me. Go.' she said icily, trying to keep calm.

Ares pushed her roughly against a tree.

Athena looked at her brother evenly, not saying a word. He grinned evilly.

Suddenly she pushed him away strongly, and grabbing the skirts of her clothes ran away quickly.


	4. Chapter 3

'Athena! Athennaa!'

The goddess smiled and stretched, as light touched her closed eyes.

'Athena!'

Someone sat down near her head.

The woman grabbed her owl by the leg.

'Morning, Sofia,' she grinned and sat up a bit.

The owl jumped up and flew away excitedly.

'Who's there?' yelled Athena, aware that it might be Ares.

'Aw, man, I haven't slept all night, thinking that Zeus will find out and you're asking 'who's there'.'

The goddess jumped up quickly and peeked out of the window of her three –story temple.

'Apollo!' she laughed and placed her head on her hands, leaning on the window.

'Yeah,' he replied looking up, 'Did he buy it?'

'Mhm…' she nodded and inclined her head a bit, 'But he seemed to be detecting a fraud at first '

The god chuckled softly.

'May, I, maybe, come in?' he asked a bit sarcastically and a bit playfully at the same time.

'Well,' Athena smiled mysteriously, 'You know I just woke up… and it _will_ take me time to find my toga…'

'Even better then…' smiled Apollo impertinently.

'Pervert!' snapped the woman and shut the window close.

'I'll still get in you know.'

'Try!' she yelled back, putting her clothes on, 'I'll send your head of your shoulders with one hit of my…'

'I told you I will…' Apollo was leaning the frame of her bedroom door.

Athena sighed, folded her arms and looked at him arrogantly.

'And…?' she asked, 'What does breaking into my house give you?'

'Sadly, you're too neat for throwing your stuff around the house, so in the morning you can't find them like I do…'

'And? Can we get to the point, please?'

'Ah, Athena…'

The Goddess looked at him and sat down on her bed.

'Listen,' she said, 'God of Art and Perverted Minds, you have something to tell me, don't you…?'

Apollo looked at her plainly, trying to irritate her with his look.

'Tell me!' his plan was working.

'No…' he teased her and walked closer.

'Aren't you…scared of me?' she asked, taken aback a bit.

'Of a woman? Even if she is immortal?' Apollo took her chin in his hand.

Athena weaved her hands around his neck.

'Just tell me…' she whispered softly, pressing against him.

'Do you really want to know what I can tell you?' he murmured, his breath on her neck.

Athena looked him in the eyes and pushed away suddenly, trying to scratch him.

'Yes, I freaking want to!' she screamed. Apollo grabbed her wrists and pressed against himself.

'Go away! Go away!' the goddess bellowed, pulling her hand out and slapping him, 'You bastard! I'm not some nymph, who is willing to sell her body to some self – loving god of heresy and outrage!'

'Athena…'

'Get out of my house and don't ever come back!' she screamed pushing him out from the door, 'Don't dare touching me ever again!'

'Athena… wait!'

The door slammed closed behind him and the woman fell on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.


End file.
